Hillary Clinton will officially launch her campaign for president on June 13 with a rally on New York City’s Roosevelt Island, ending the gradual ramp-up phase of her bid for president.
The former Secretary of State will speak to a crowd open to the public on the four-mile-long island in the East River of New York at midday, a Clinton campaign official said on Monday. In her remarks, Clinton will lay our her vision for the campaign and her view of the country.
The first official rally of Clinton’s nascent campaign will mark the end of a two-month period of small events in the early primary states of Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina, where Clinton has spoken about economic inequality, a full path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, regulating Wall Street banks, and criminal justice reform, among other issues.
Clinton’s campaign events have been highly controlled discussions with hand-picked roundtable participants. She and her aides say they have drawn on discussions with voters for framing policy ideas, including addressing opioid drug abuse and student debt.
Roosevelt Island sits halfway between Manhattan and Queens, and is served by one subway line, a bridge and an aerial tram. The island is named after the Democratic president Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
“Throughout her career, Hillary Clinton has been inspired by FDR’s belief that America is stronger when we summon the work and talents of all Americans and has long admired Eleanor Roosevelt as a role model,” said a Clinton campaign official in a note.
Immediately following her campaign speech, she will travel to all four early primary states, first to Iowa, then to New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada.
Though Clinton was the first candidate to enter the race on April 12, she is the third candidate, after Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, to launch her campaign with an official rally.
See Hillary Clinton's Evolution in 20 Photos
Teenager: Hillary Rodham poses in her 1965 senior class portrait from Park Ridge East High School in Illinois. APLaw School Student: Bill Clinton and Hillary Rodham pose for a snapshot at Yale Law School in 1972. They married in 1975.Clinton Presidential LibraryMother: Clinton poses with her husband, Bill, then in his first term as governor, with their week-old daughter, Chelsea, on March 5, 1980.Donald R. Broyles—APCampaign Companion: Clinton celebrates her husband's victory in a Democratic runoff in Little Rock, Ark. on June 8, 1982.APArkansas First Lady: Clinton is seen in her inaugural ball gown in 1985. A. Lynn—APPolitical Wife: Clinton celebrates her husband's inauguration in Little Rock on Sept. 20, 1991.Danny Johnston—APDignitary: Clinton receives an honorary law degree from Hendrix College in Conway, Ark., on May 30, 1992.Chris Ocken—APCampaigner: Clinton speaks at a meeting during the presidential campaign for her husband in Buffalo, N.Y., on April 4, 1992.Bill Sikes—APFirst Lady: Clinton appears at the MTV Inauguration Ball at the Washington Convention Center on Jan. 20, 1993. Shayna Brennan—APSecond-Term First Lady: Clinton attends the Inaugural Ball after her husband was sworn in to a second term on Jan. 20, 1997. Brooks Kraft—CorbisNew York Senator: Clinton speaks at a press conference with female Democratic senators in Washington on June 21, 2006. Brooks Kraft—CorbisCommittee Member: Clinton listens to the testimony of Lt. General David Petraeus to the Senate Armed Forces Committee at a hearing on Capital Hill in Washington on Jan. 23, 2007. Brooks Kraft—CorbisCandidate: Clinton holds a a campaign event in Portsmouth, N.H., while running for the Democratic presidential nomination on Sept. 2, 2007. Brooks Kraft—CorbisCampaigner: Clinton speaks at a campaign stop in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on Jan. 2, 2008. Brooks Kraft—CorbisSecretary of State: Clinton kisses President Obama at a joint session of Congress in Washington on Feb. 24, 2009. Brooks Kraft—CorbisWitness: Clinton joins Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Dec. 3, 2009. Brooks Kraft—CorbisWitness: Clinton testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on the deadly attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, on Jan. 23, 2013.J. Scott Applewhite—APAuthor: Clinton attends a signing memoir, "Hard Choices," at a Costco in Arlington, Va., on June 14, 2014. Brooks Kraft—CorbisGrandmother: Clinton holds her granddaughter Charlotte Clinton Mezvinsky at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City on Sept. 27, 2014.Office of President Clinton/APOnce and Future Candidate: Clinton speaks at Iowa Senator Tom Harkin's annual Steak Fry in Indianola, Iowa, on Sept. 14, 2014. Brooks Kraft—Corbis